{"id":13046,"date":"2026-10-16T11:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T07:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sayainternational.com\/en\/turkish-universities-world-rankings\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T21:06:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T17:36:50","slug":"turkish-universities-world-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sayainternational.com\/en\/turkish-universities-world-rankings\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish Universities World Rankings 2027: QS, THE and What They Mean"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parents often send us a screenshot of a ranking table before anything else. Is this university in the top 500? Why is it 300th in one list and 650th in another? These are fair questions, and Turkish universities world rankings<\/strong> have changed quite a lot in the last few years, so it helps to know what the numbers actually say and what they do not<\/p>\n

Below we pull together the latest QS and Times Higher Education results, published in June and September 2026, explain why the same university can sit in very different places, and show how we use rankings when advising students for the 2027 intake<\/p>\n

At a glance:<\/strong> QS 2027: 11 Turkish universities in the world top 1,000, with ITU first in T\u00fcrkiye at 279th \u2022 THE 2027: 124 Turkish universities ranked, 13 in the top 1,000 \u2022 Ko\u00e7 and METU lead T\u00fcrkiye in THE at 326\u2013350 \u2022 Rankings measure research and reputation, not teaching quality for your programme<\/div>\n

QS World University Rankings 2027: Turkish Results<\/h2>\n

QS released its 2027 edition in June 2026, covering about 1,500 universities from over 100 countries. Istanbul Technical University took the top Turkish spot at 279th, overtaking METU, which had led the previous year at 269th and now sits at 305th. Ko\u00e7, Bo\u011fazi\u00e7i and Sabanc\u0131 all landed between 329th and 357th, and Bilkent completed the group of six Turkish universities in the global top 500<\/p>\n

Five more made the top 1,000: Hacettepe, Istanbul University, Y\u0131ld\u0131z Technical University, Ankara University and Gebze Technical University. Another fourteen, including Ege, Marmara, Dokuz Eyl\u00fcl, \u00d6zye\u011fin and \u0130zmir Institute of Technology, appear in the 1,001 to 1,500 band. QS leans heavily on academic and employer reputation surveys, which is one reason the older, well-known state universities do so well here<\/p>\n

\"Sabanc\u0131
Sabanc\u0131 University in Istanbul, ranked among the top five Turkish universities in both QS and THE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THE World University Rankings 2027: Turkish Results<\/h2>\n

Times Higher Education published its 2027 table at the end of September 2026. T\u00fcrkiye had 124 universities in the list, the third largest national total after the United States and India. That headline is about quantity, though. In terms of position, Ko\u00e7 and METU shared the top Turkish place in the 326\u2013350 band, followed by Sabanc\u0131 at 376\u2013400 and Bo\u011fazi\u00e7i at 401\u2013450<\/p>\n

Bilkent and ITU came in at 651\u2013700, and seven more reached the 801\u20131,000 band, among them Hacettepe, Atat\u00fcrk, Y\u0131ld\u0131z Technical, \u00d6zye\u011fin and Abdullah G\u00fcl University in Kayseri. You may also notice a couple of younger private universities in Istanbul, such as \u0130stinye and Ni\u015fanta\u015f\u0131, in that band. THE gives a lot of weight to research citations, and a small university with a few highly cited papers can climb quickly<\/p>\n

Top Turkish Universities: QS vs THE Side by Side<\/h2>\n

This table shows why it is worth looking at more than one list. Ranks are global positions from the 2027 editions<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
University<\/th>\nType<\/th>\nQS 2027<\/th>\nTHE 2027<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Istanbul Technical University<\/td>\nState<\/td>\n279<\/td>\n651\u2013700<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Middle East Technical University<\/td>\nState<\/td>\n305<\/td>\n326\u2013350<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ko\u00e7 University<\/td>\nPrivate<\/td>\n329<\/td>\n326\u2013350<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bo\u011fazi\u00e7i University<\/td>\nState<\/td>\n345<\/td>\n401\u2013450<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sabanc\u0131 University<\/td>\nPrivate<\/td>\n357<\/td>\n376\u2013400<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bilkent University<\/td>\nPrivate<\/td>\n454<\/td>\n651\u2013700<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hacettepe University<\/td>\nState<\/td>\n570<\/td>\n801\u20131000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Y\u0131ld\u0131z Technical University<\/td>\nState<\/td>\n634<\/td>\n801\u20131000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Istanbul University<\/td>\nState<\/td>\n629<\/td>\nOutside top 1,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ankara University<\/td>\nState<\/td>\n731\u2013740<\/td>\nOutside top 1,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Notice how ITU is first in QS but outside the THE top 600, while Ko\u00e7 and METU are strong in both. Neither list is wrong. They simply measure different things, and they weigh those things differently<\/p>\n

Why the Same University Ranks So Differently<\/h2>\n

Every ranking is a formula. Change the ingredients and the order changes. In simple terms<\/p>\n